Sleep
by RemyTheReaper
Summary: Sometimes Chase comes home later than Cameron, and their sleep cycle is disrupted. Not that either of them mind. Chameron oneshot fluff.


**A/N: Hi! Okay, so I started writing this a long time ago, and then stopped, then started again yesterday but the episode was so depressing I couldn't finish. But because I think we need some fluff to lighten the mood after what happened, I finished it tonight and here it is! **

_Him_

Sometimes he works later than her. She's got a replacement coming in for her at the end of her shift, but he has to see his surgery patients through. Usually he's not stuck too much longer than she is, and she hangs around in the E.R. or in the surgery lounge and waits for him.

But there are always those nights where he's got a difficult surgery, repairing one thing or another, and it's clear he's not going to be out of there for another few hours. Those are the nights when the older, matronly nurses smile sympathetically at him as he asks them to please tell the receptionist for the surgery wing to tell Cameron not to wait aroud for him. Those are the nights when the other surgeons laugh and say how she must hate it when he's stuck late. But he tells them the truth, that Cameron understands. After all, she's a doctor too. And though it's rare, some nights she gets stuck too, because Cuddy can't find anyone to cover for whichever night shift doctor called in sick, and Cameron always steps up to help out. But they all laugh and say, things like "She's understanding now, wait until you've got a kid at home you're leaving her with! See how understanding she is then!" because they're all older than he is, and several are divorced. But Chase smartly ignores those comments, because he's not at that point yet and he doesn't really want to think about it until he has to.

He always hurries to get out of the hospital on those nights, because he can't stand to be there a moment longer than necessary. He changes out of his scrubs, grabs his bag, and without even glancing at the clock, rushes out. He only allows himself to relax once he's in the car driving home. That's when he finally checks the clock and tries to predict if she's still awake, or if she's drifted off by now. He doesn't call her, because he doesn't want to wake her up if he thinks she's sleeping, and if he thinks she might still be awake, he goes with the part of him that says she could be asleep, and still doesn't call.

It doesn't take him long to get home, or rather to her condo. It might as well be home, they stay there so often now. They're just waiting for his lease to run out next month. He's going to be moving all his stuff in soon, and he knows that she's excited. She likes decorating and rearranging things in the apartment. They're definitely going to have to do some rearranging to make his stuff fit in with hers.

When he gets there he takes the stairs up three flights and walks down to the corner apartment. He's careful to be quiet when he comes in, and resists the urge to flick the lights on upon entering. Sometimes Cameron is still awake, sitting up waiting for him. But they're both exhausted, so they tend to get to sleep pretty quickly anyways.

Most of the time though, Cameron is already asleep when he gets home. It's obvious she's tried to stay awake, because she's always on the couch, and he can't decide if he feels bad that he made her wait around, or if he likes that she does wait around for him. He doesn't dwell on it for long though, as he's usually tired and just wants to get to bed. So he scoops her up into his arms, and always marvels at the fact that she's so light and tiny as he carries her into their bedroom and lays her on the bed. Then he changes out of his work clothes and into pajamas and shuts off the lights, climbing into bed next to his beautiful sleeping girlfriend.

He nevers goes to sleep right away, sleep is something that's always come difficult to him. When he lived alone, he'd always sit up, watching something or another on the television until he passed out, or else he'd drink himself into oblivion. The latter didn't happen often, but he wasn't too affected by hangovers anyways, so it didn't matter. Now though, with Cameron, he doesn't want to get up, doesn't want to leave her alone in the bed. Instead, he holds onto her, running his fingers through her hair, or just keeping his arms tight around her. Its during these moments that he realizes all the things he loves about her, how soft her skin is, the way her hair smells, the way she smiles in her sleep and how her nose twitches sometimes, like a rabbit. He loves those things, and he loves her more than he thinks he could ever express in words. The way she makes him feel, the way every time she enters a room it seems to get brighter, the way everything seems okay when she's around, those are the things that he knows he can't describe to her, but they're the things that define the extent to which he loves her. He hopes she feels them too.

Eventually, he does start to fall asleep. He can feel himself fading, and it's at that point that he'll run a hand along her cheek, admiring the smoothness of her skin, and he'll cup her head in his hand and kiss her on the forehead. Then, as he fades more, he'll lean down and whisper in her ear, telling her how beautiful she is, and how much he loves her.

Finally, the love of his life tucked safely in his arms, he sleeps.

* * *

_Her_

She's always been a light sleeper. Ever since she was a baby. It was odd, her parents said, inexplicable really. And while she had always found it irritating that the slightest movement could wake her, she likes it on the nights that he works later than her.

The first few times that she fell asleep on the couch waiting up for him, she woke up at his arrival and he felt bad for waking her up. She didn't want to make him feel bad, as it wasn't his fault she was such a light sleeper, and so she would pretend to be asleep. She still does. Maybe she's a good actress, or maybe its just because he's so tired after a long day's work that he never catches on. He won't check to make sure that she's actually asleep, or try to wake her up, simply lift her into his arms. She likes that, likes the way it feels to have him hold her like that. He holds her tightly of course, so that she won't fall, but at the same time she can tell he's holding her so tenderly, so carefully. She feels safe in his arms, like she's never felt safe before. Then he lays her in the bed, tucks the blankets around her, and she holds her breath until she hears the light switch off.

From the moment he gets into bed next to her, she feels paralyzed. She knows that if she makes one wrong move he'll know she's awake. She doesn't want him to know, things will go differently. He'll kiss her, apologize for waking her up, and say goodnight. But if she stays still, pretends to be asleep, then he's like a completely different person. He holds her like he's protecting her, like if he lets go she'll disappear. He runs his finers through her curls, and she remembers an old boyfriend who had tried to do that once and succeeded in making her hair a mess of snarls, then snagging his fingers in each one and making it worse. Chase is different, he doesn't tangle her hair, and his fingers never snag. Its a soothing motion, and sometimes she can't help but give small moans of approval, which cause him to give a chuckle and kiss her on the top of her head. He thinks that she's probably just having a good dream, he doesn't realize she's still awake in his arms.

She doesn't know how long they lay like that on these nights she doesn't really care. She's too consumed with the warm tingling feeling of him holding her, hearing his heart beat as her head rests against his bare chest, feeling his fingers run through her hair or caress her cheek. She knows that she'll be exhausted in the morning, but she struggles to stay awake, wanting these moments to last forever. When he holds her, she feels like all the problems of the world melt away. Nothing matters to her except that he keeps holding her and she doesn't let him know she's awake, it's so much easier than the rest of her life problems.

As much as Cameron wants these nights to last forever, she always knows when Chase is starting to fall asleep. He stops running his fingers through her hair and adjusts her in his arms more comfortably. Then, he'll run his fingers along her cheek and the tenderness with which he does so leaves her breathless, he never does things like that when they're both fully awake. Cameron feels lik she's finding a whole new side of him. As he starts to get even closer to sleep, he'll hold the back of her head and gently tip her face up to his and brush his lips against her forehead. She doesn't consider it a kiss, it's too soft, too light. She loves it more than she loves his normal kisses. It makes her heart swell until she's afraid it will burst.

Right before Chase falls asleep, he does the thing that always makes Cameron tear up. He leans down so his mouth is near her ear, his hair falling against her cheek and whispers into her ear all the things he loves about her. She listens and tries not to open her eyes, to take his face and kiss him like she's never kissed him before. She lays still and struggles internally until he ends it with "I love you Allison." and moves his head back before falling asleep. He's so tired when he's saying these things that he doesn't notice when she sometimes starts to shake with suppressed tears. But she always waits until she hears his breathing falling into the deep even rhythm that lets her know he's really asleep until she opens her own eyes and looks up at his serene face. She wishes that she could see his face when he's saying these things to her, when he's telling her how beautiful she is, when he's saying that he loves her. He tells her he loves her first during one of these nights, he doesn't tell her when he knows she's awake for another month after that. But Cameron doesn't care, she knows that it's hard for him to say things like that sometimes, and him saying it to her even when he thinks she's asleep is good enough. And on these nights she watches his face for a moment, imagining the bright blue eyes hidden under thier lids now, and then she leans up and brushes her lips against his with the same gentle tenderness that he's brushed his lips to her forehead. Then, before she succumbs to sleep as well she leans up to his ear and whispers, "I love you too Robert."

* * *

_Them_

They never tell each other their secrets. The next morning, Cameron casually asks Chase when he got in the night before. He names a time and follows it up with, "I went right to bed, I was exhausted." Cameron will nod and smirk, "Thanks for not leaving me on the couch all night." and Chase will laugh and kiss her, "You're lucky I can carry you!". Chase doesn't mention that he stayed up for three hours holding her, playing with her hair. Cameron doesn't mention that she was up too, pretending to be asleep so he would hold her that special way he does only when he thinks she's asleep, so that he'll tell her he loves her and call her by her real name. They go about their normal morning business and get to work, each secretly hoping that maybe he'll have to work late again.

**A/N: Review?**


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